


The Bones You're Made Of

by PrepSchoolAda



Series: DE Art Fest 2020 [27]
Category: Detroit Evolution - Fandom, Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: #DEArtFest, DE Art Fest, DEArtfest, Detroit Evolution Artfest (Detroit: Become Human), F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Implied abuse, Octopunk Media's Detroit: Evolution Fan Film, Post-Octopunk Media's Detroit: Evolution Fan Film, Whump, implied trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:47:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25035682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrepSchoolAda/pseuds/PrepSchoolAda
Summary: DE Art Fest Day 27 - WhumpAda is at a high school sleepover and has once again been awoken by her recurring nightmares. This time, however, she's not alone.
Relationships: Ada (Detroit: Evolution)/North (Detroit: Become Human), Ada/North
Series: DE Art Fest 2020 [27]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1799098
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	The Bones You're Made Of

**Author's Note:**

> (still on my wee holiday! hope proofreading is alright, as well as formatting! mobile is not kind lmao)

Ada woke with a start, relief washing over her gradually as she realised it had all been a dream. That relief unfortunately did nothing to still her beating heart. It was going far too fast. She could practically hear it.

It was always the same nightmare. She'd had it almost her whole life, no matter how many group homes she was sent to, no matter how many people fostered her and then returned her when they'd had enough of her. The one constant in her life was that one nightmare that haunted her wherever she went. It was about the last night she'd spent at her original home with her father. She'd finally snapped and refused to let him use her as a toy any longer. She'd screamed and shouted that she would not be a plaything anymore. In a way, it was the best decision she'd ever made. It had finally got the neighbours' attention and social workers had come to take her away the next morning. However, the only problem with that was that the noises that had attracted the neighbours' attention had been how her father had responded to Ada's assertions and punished her for them. At the end of Ada's nightmare, she always ended up dead. She was amazed that she'd even survived in real life.

It was so embarrassing for her to have this nightmare here and now. For the first time, she'd moved to a school where nobody thought she was a freak for being a foster home kid. When Echo had first invited Ada to her birthday sleepover, Ada had been sceptical. What if it was a trick? She'd nearly declined the invitation, but Echo had the kindest look on her face when she'd requested Ada's presence. She seemed so trustworthy. Ada had decided right there and then that a potential friendship with Echo was worth the risk of momentary humiliation.

She'd actually been having a lovely time so far. Echo's friends were really interesting, and Ada even found she could relate to them in some ways. In fact, Ada got the impression that they'd immediately understood Ada because they weren't all that dissimilar to her. Ada had even thought that someday she could even open up to them. It would be nice for her to feel safe enough to honestly talk to someone about her past who wasn't being paid to discuss it with her.

However, despite that, Ada wasn't nearly ready to discuss the nightmare with them. She'd been hoping it wouldn't happen tonight in case she woke anyone up. She was known to yell in her sleep. It happened anyway. Ada's only comfort was that everyone around her still slept soundly. That was something, she supposed.

God, this was the worst. Ada lay in her sleeping bag on the living room floor, staring at the white, scaly ceiling. Her breaths were slow and tentative, her entire body frozen in place. Her heart was hammering off her ribcage and yet everything else was so slow. She tried moving each one of her fingers, slowly, just to assure herself that she could. Each of them came to life very slowly and with an abundance of caution, as if any slightly movement of her hand would awaken one of her sleepover companions and she'd have to explain all of this to them.

The worst part of the nightmare was always the paralysing post-awakening fear. It always happened in the dead of night, which only added to her existing terror, and she could never move during it. It was worse than the nightmare itself, in Ada's opinion; it wasn't just scary, it was inconvenient. Ada wondered what a good night's sleep felt like.

As Ada followed that train of thought, there was a rustling next to her. Startled, Ada's head instinctively whipped to her right to investigate. It was just North, tossing and turning slightly in her sleep. Ada sighed with relief, not entirely sure what she'd thought it was.

North was facing Ada now. God, she even looked intense in her sleep. Out of all of Echo's friends, North was the one that mesmerised Ada the most. They hadn't spoken very much because neither of them were very talkative. And yet Ada felt inexplicably drawn to North. If Ada was ever going to open up to anyone who wasn't a social worker or a therapist, it would be North. Ada simply felt like North would understand. She wouldn't simply show her pity or offer a listening ear; North would _get it_. Ada certainly hoped for North's sake that they had nothing in common at all, but had to admit it would be nice to have someone understand her.

Suddenly, North's eyes popped open and she exhaled. Ada flinched as North immediately sat up and began backing away from Ada.

"North, it's okay!" Ada whispered, carefully moving closer to North. She didn't want to scare her, nor did she want to wake up any of their friends. Ada imagined it would be very embarrassing for them both if they were caught in this state. Ada was so set on calming North down she had yet to realise that this was the first time someone, anyone, had managed to pull her out of her post-nightmare paralysis.

North's face relaxed upon focusing on Ada. Ada made her feel calm in a way she couldn't explain. All of North's friends knew her secrets, and while it had been a weight off her mind at the time, they still gave her pitied looks that she wished she wasn't the only recipient of. Ada was the only one who saw her as North, and not North the trauma-riddled teen. It was quite nice. Unfortunately, despite how much Ada's presence made North feel at ease, the reasoning behind it made it difficult for North to establish a proper friendship between them. Would Ada treat her differently if she knew about her past?

However, it seemed that that hurdle would soon be overcome, as North identified the very same fear coursing through her body in Ada's eyes. Ada, in this moment, was for some reason just as terrified as North was. Interesting. Why would that be?

"Are you okay?" North whispered.

Ada froze. Why was North asking her that? She had rather expected to be comforting North at this moment in time.

"I'm fine," said Ada dismissively. North, for some reason that was inexplicable to both her and Ada, kept pushing it.

"Why were you awake?"

Ada shuddered slightly, both from the sudden cold of ejecting herself from her sleeping bag and from nervousness.

"I just had a nightmare," said Ada. "So did you, by the looks of things."

North swallowed and concentrated very hard on the space just left of Ada's head to avoid making eye contact with her. "I don't want to talk about it, if that's what you're going to ask."

Ada exhaled through her nose. "It wasn't."

"Well, what were you going to say?"

Ada's eyebrows knit together. "Well... nothing. I just... I just wanted to make sure you're okay."

North's jaw clenched, and a few more uncomfortable moments of silence passed. 

"I'm sorry," said Ada.

North frowned. "What for?"

"...I don't know. I keep apologising for things that aren't my fault. I've done it my whole life."

North grimaced. "Well, don't. Easier said than done, but... don't. You're fine."

Ada smiled. "I'll leave you alone now. Sorry if I scared you."

"No, no apologies! Remember? You know what, I'll remind you not to apologise so much from now on whenever it happens!"

Ada stifled a giggle, still aware of their sleeping companions, but only slightly. North may as well have been the only person in the world in that moment.

North, to Ada's surprise, crawled closer to her and gently took Ada's hand. "Whenever I had a nightmare in the group home, this kid who shared a room with me used to hold my hand until I calmed down. Here, it might help you."

Ada was distracted from how soft and warm North's hand was by the revelation that North had spent time in care homes too.

"You were in a group home?" said Ada. North's face fell. She'd forgotten who she was talking to. She hadn't meant to let that slip. Damn it.

When she saw how disturbed North was by this murmured outburst, Ada was quick to speak up again.

"No, I wasn't judging you! I was too!"

North's face softened, gazing at Ada with newfound admiration. "Never met anyone else who was in a home before. Well, except... all the kids from mine."

Ada sniggered. "Well, I was in a lot of them, if you ever wanna hear stories."

Ada had intended for this to be a humorous remark, but it appeared to make North sad.

"I'm sorry. That sucks."

"Don't be. It's not your fault."

For some reason, some damn nonsensical reason, Ada gradually found herself leaning against North. Ada's head was on her shoulder, and her free hand was curling around North's waist. She couldn't explain why she was doing this, all she knew was that the closer she got to North, the further away the residual fear from her nightmares became. Much to her relief, North appeared to feel quite the same, melting into Ada's embrace. North's nuzzled her cheek on Ada's hair, clasping her hand tight and savouring the feeling of Ada's arm over her stomach. Ada's arm was cold, North could feel it through her top, but at the same time her touch was so god damned warm. It was so warm. She was being held by someone who understood. She was _holding_ someone who understood. It had been a long time coming.

"I wish we'd been in the same home," whispered North. "It would have been cool to meet you."

Ada grinned as North stroked her hair. "Yeah. Me too."

They eventually fell asleep leaning on each other. Amazingly, when they woke up, they found that none of their friends were surprised at how close they'd become overnight. It was almost as if they'd been expecting it, or even waiting for it. Interesting.

**Author's Note:**

> did i really name this fic after a ben howard song of course i did bye


End file.
